Ninth Schedule and Parliamentary Power

Statement 1 is correct: Parliament can place laws in the Ninth Schedule through amendments to the Constitution. The Ninth Schedule was introduced by the 1st Amendment and contains laws that are protected from judicial review to a large extent. Statement 2 is partially incorrect/outdated: Originally, laws in the Ninth Schedule were completely beyond judicial review. However, in the landmark case Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973), the Supreme Court held that even Ninth Schedule laws could be examined if they violate the basic structure of the Constitution. Subsequently, in various judgments, courts have maintained limited power to review Ninth Schedule laws on basic structure grounds. Therefore, the absolute statement in Statement 2 is not entirely accurate. > Parliament can amend Constitution to place laws in Ninth Schedule, but even these have limited judicial review if they violate basic structure doctrine. Answer: (a).